Call forwarding is a feature typically supported in many communication systems. Call forwarding allows a user in the communication system to forward telephone calls directed at one telephone device to another telephone device. To use the call forwarding feature, the user or “subscriber” typically needs to enter a code in the telephone being forwarded and instruct the telephone system where to forward the calls.
A problem with conventional communication systems is that the user typically needs to manually activate and deactivate the call forwarding feature. For example, an employee of a company may have a wireless mobile phone, also called a “mobile station,” and a desk phone. To forward calls from the desk phone to the mobile phone, the employee needs to manually instruct the telephone system to forward calls for the desk phone to the mobile phone. If the employee wants to deactivate the call forwarding feature before leaving work, the employee must pick up a phone and manually deactivate the call forwarding feature in the telephone system. This is a time consuming process. If the employee often changes locations throughout the day, it becomes even more time consuming to forward and unforward multiple telephones.
Because the user typically must activate and deactivate the call forwarding feature manually, the user may forgot to turn the call forwarding feature for one or more telephones on or off. As a result, the call forwarding for the telephones may become unsynchronized. For example, a user's mobile phone may be forwarded to one location while the user's desk phone may be forwarded to another location. When the call forwarding becomes unsynchronized, the user may receive calls at unwanted times or at unwanted telephones. Also, a person attempting to contact the user may be unable to reach the user because calls to the user's telephones are being forwarded to different locations.
As a result of any of these or other disadvantages, previous call forwarding synchronization techniques have been inadequate in many communication systems.